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The International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics (ISCRA) was the of the first Schools founded in Erice, only five Schools are older. Now there are 126 International Schools. Some partial information on earlier ISCRA is here: Previous Schools. ISCRA was originally founded under the directorship of Bruno Rossi, but shortly afterwards Prof. Maurice M. Shapiro became the director and alma mater. He insisted on high standard, inviting the best physicists but only if they could lecture so as to inspire the new generations of students and he broadened the School to include senior practitioners in related disciplines such as Astronomy with instructions to provide as many connecting strands as possible, so that the attendees gained a wider perspective of their field. Several Nobel prize winners have attended and it is difficult to find any senior person in the Cosmic-Ray Astrophysics community who has not attended one of the Schools in Erice. Most of the winners of the three international awards in Cosmic Ray Physics, the O'Ceallaigh Medal, the Yodh Prize and the Shakti P. Duggal Award have attended ISCRA. There have also been many cases when attendees who first came as students, returned several years later as lecturers, a return which was particularly pleasing to Prof. Shapiro as he regularly challenged young students with the promise that if they developed and advanced to a high enough level, he would later invite them back as lecturers.
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